Nanosensors for single cell mechanical interrogation

Xinxin Hang; Shiqi He; Zaizai Dong; Grayson Minnick; Jordan Rosenbohm; Zhou Chen; Ruiguo Yang; Lingqian Chang

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2021.113086

Nanosensors for single cell mechanical interrogation

Biosens Bioelectron. 2021 May 1:179:113086. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2021.113086. Epub 2021 Feb 16.

Authors

Xinxin Hang¹, Shiqi He¹, Zaizai Dong¹, Grayson Minnick², Jordan Rosenbohm², Zhou Chen³, Ruiguo Yang⁴, Lingqian Chang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, No.37, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China.
² Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA.
³ School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211800, China. Electronic address: zchen6240@njtech.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA; Nebraska Center for Integrated Biomolecular Communication, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA. Electronic address: ryang6@unl.edu.
⁵ Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, No.37, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China. Electronic address: lingqianchang@buaa.edu.cn.

PMID: 33636499
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2021.113086

Abstract

The occurrence and development of many diseases are accompanied and sometimes dictated by the destruction of biomechanical homeostasis. For instance, cancer cells and normal cells show different cellular mechanical forces phenotypes, as the proliferation and invasion ability of cancer cells is often related to the changes in mechanical force in the tumor. With single cell analysis, variations in mechanics within a cell population can be detected and analyzed, opening new dimensions in the study of cancer. Nanosensor design for interrogation of cell mechanics is an interdisciplinary area bridging over cell biology, mechanics, and micro/nanotechnology. In this tutorial review, we give insight into the background and technical innovation of currently available methods for mechanical analysis of cells. First, we discuss the mechanism of mechanical changes in the development and progression of cancer that shows the feasibility of mechanical sensors in cancer cell detection. Next, we summarize the principle, progress, and essential problems of common technologies for cell force measurement, including single molecule force spectroscopy and elastic substrate-sensors. Following that, we discuss novel micro and nano-scale mechanical sensors and their applications in single cell level biological analysis. At last, we elaborate on the remaining issues and trends of the cellular mechanical sensors.

Keywords: Cell mechanics; DNA hairpin; FRET; Force sensors; Tension gauge tether.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biosensing Techniques*
Mechanical Phenomena
Nanotechnology
Single-Cell Analysis
Stress, Mechanical